# Resolved: Starbucks Coffee is Bad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** coffee\ **Created:** [January 5, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357 "2017-01-05T00:51:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/41 "2017-01-05T16:12:29Z")
I’ve had worse coffee, including from a local coffee service that was known by employees of businesses throughout the area as terrible coffee. A company switching to that service was a warning sign. Regarding Starbucks, it’s okay if you get one of the lighter roasts. It’ll never be as good as a really fancy local place, and I’d rather have Duncan Donuts coffee most mornings, but it’s okay in a pinch. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/42 "2017-01-05T16:15:30Z")
People don’t go to _Starbuck’s_ for coffee-they go there for liquid dessert, which usually has low coffee content to it. I like my coffee black(not like those of you who claim to like it with nothing in it…just milk or cream), and I have never had a cup of coffee from them that wasn’t burnt. McDonalds is better, as is Burger King and even Jack In The Box. Haven’t tried Black Rock yet-any good? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/43 "2017-01-05T16:19:26Z")
A Starbucks mocha is an occasional treat for me. I like it just fine. I have a sweet tooth, so I like some of the seasonal coffees, too. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/44 "2017-01-05T16:25:00Z")
My brother works there so I know their culture is getting better. He gets free coffee every week and their lighter roasts aren’t that bad at all when you make them at home. They have some knowledgeable staff if you find the right locations. They sell decent, if over priced equipment like pour overs and chemexes. In other words, they seem like a good business, so I’m trying to say good things about them even though I basically feel like **silenus** here about their flaghsip product: > [@silenus](#): > > Agree. Their regular roast is just burnt. The Blond is OK, but then, so is McDonalds coffee, and it’s half the price. > [@WordMan](#): > > Did they pass a certain size and sacrifice taste for consistency or something? I think that was it. Like all chain stores they wanted a consistent experience. The only way to make coffee beans sourced from all over the world taste the same is to roast them until they’re charcoal. I think they’re getting better on that front, but it’s taking a while because like others said, coffee isn’t really their main business, their customers mostly come for the milk and sugar. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/45 "2017-01-05T16:29:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > People don’t go to _Starbuck’s_ for coffee-they go there for liquid dessert As this thread demonstrates, there are in fact many people who do just go there for the coffee, and not the “liquid dessert.” ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/46 "2017-01-05T16:31:00Z")
Another thing to keep in mind is that fast food and diners used to have absolute shit coffee. Sometime around the turn of the century I remember Denny’s, McDonald’s and others completely revamped their coffee, and now they’re pretty good. So Starbucks probably used to be a lot better than your average fast food coffee and more accessible to a lot of people than independent coffee shops. But the fast food companies squeezed the gap, and now Starbucks looks worse in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/47 "2017-01-05T16:34:38Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > The only way to make coffee beans sourced from all over the world taste the same is to roast them until they’re charcoal. Their regular roast isn’t even a dark roast, so how could it be that they’re roasted “until they’re charcoal”? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/48 "2017-01-05T16:47:11Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > As this thread demonstrates, there are in fact many people who do just go there for the coffee, and not the “liquid dessert.” No, there aren’t. Starbuck’s lines aren’t long because people order plain coffee a lot-that takes no time at all to prepare. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/49 "2017-01-05T16:48:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No, there aren’t. Starbuck’s lines aren’t long because people order plain coffee a lot-that takes no time at all to prepare. While I"m sure the majority of people who go there get the fancy pants drinks, I always see a few orders for coffee while I’m there. And I don’t know about long lines. I don’t usually have to wait more than 1-2 minutes to get served. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/50 "2017-01-05T16:50:53Z")
It’s fine. It sure is coffee! But Starbucks doesn’t sell Combos and beef jerky, and 7-11 does, so I get coffee there instead. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/51 "2017-01-05T16:52:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > They also, of course, have the reputation of having very expensive coffee, which is not quite true. Their regular black coffee is the same price at about $2 as the same size at Dunkin Donuts. Their espresso drinks are the ones that get to the $4+ level that people complain about when they say it costs $4 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. It does not. My recollection is that when they first expanded nationwide, their drip coffee was indeed noticeably more expensive than what one bought at a diner or fast-food shop. Since then, places like McDonalds have not only raised the quality of their coffee to be competitive with Starbucks but the price point as well. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/52 "2017-01-05T16:53:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No, there aren’t. Starbuck’s lines aren’t long because people order plain coffee a lot-that takes no time at all to prepare. Better yet: [Cite](https://qz.com/195631/what-people-order-at-starbucks-around-the-united-states/). > [@](#): > > Starbucks’ analysts looked at hundreds of millions of transactions at the chain’s coffee shops across the US, and they shared some of the trends they observed with Quartz. Unsurprisingly, the most popular drinks across the board were simple brewed coffee and lattes. Looking solely at volume, every region, state, and city would essentially have the same exact top preferences, with **regular coffee by far the most common order** , and lattes a distant second. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/53 "2017-01-05T16:55:23Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > My recollection is that when they first expanded nationwide, their drip coffee was indeed noticeably more expensive than what one bought at a diner or fast-food shop. Since then, places like McDonalds have not only raised the quality of their coffee to be competitive with Starbucks but the price point as well. WHile that’s true (and McD’s has one buck coffees, at least around here, so it is cheaper), when I hear it repeated, it’s mostly in the form of not being expensive coffee, but something like “I don’t want to pay $5 for a cup of coffee.” That is, an absurd price point is given for a regular coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/54 "2017-01-05T17:02:51Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Better yet: > > [Cite](https://qz.com/195631/what-people-order-at-starbucks-around-the-united-states/). This flies in the face of my personal observations(_and_ yours, according to what you posted), and makes me wonder if this is just Starbucks trying to put to rest the “burnt coffee” stories. Has anyone else here who have watched people order at a Starbucks confirm that a most order just plain coffee with nothing added to it? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/55 "2017-01-05T17:08:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I still think their espresso is not very good and the only way to enjoy it is to drown it in milk & cream & stuff I love my espresso without additives, and I find their product undrinkable. Burnt, bitter, no crema, completely lacking in those elements that make espresso worth drinking in the first place. And knowing they use this basically undrinkable espresso as the basis for many of their other beverages makes me avoid them like the plague. I will admit I’ll drink a regular cup of coffee from them (adding a little creamer and maybe some sweetener on my own) and I can’t find anything to really complain about there. But a coffee specialty shop that can’t produce a decent espresso (and so very many chains can’t) is anathema to me. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/56 "2017-01-05T17:11:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > This flies in the face of my personal observations(_and_ yours, according to what you posted) No, it doesn’t. The drip coffee can still be the plurality of their orders without being the majority. Perhaps all the other espresso drinks combined are more popular than the brewed coffee, but the brewed coffee is still by far the highest selling single item. It could be something like a 30-70 split plain coffee vs other drinks. Regardless, that still means a lot of people go to Starbucks for the plain coffee. Your statement was that people don’t go to Starbucks for their coffee, but only liquid dessert. That is clearly not true. Many clearly do go for their coffee. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/57 "2017-01-05T17:13:10Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I will admit I’ll drink a regular cup of coffee from them (adding a little creamer and maybe some sweetener on my own) and I can’t find anything to really complain about there. But a coffee specialty shop that can’t produce a decent espresso (and so very many chains can’t) is anathema to me. ☹ This I 100% agree with. It’s not a place where I would go to get an espresso, that’s for sure. It’s a place to get serviceable black coffee that is also a convenient meeting place all across the city. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/58 "2017-01-05T17:14:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > This flies in the face of my personal observations(_and_ yours, according to what you posted), and makes me wonder if this is just Starbucks trying to put to rest the “burnt coffee” stories. Has anyone else here who have watched people order at a Starbucks confirm that a most order just plain coffee with nothing added to it? Maybe the time of day you normally go? If you’re going mid-morning on a Saturday, you don’t see the 7 am coffee-on-the-way-to-work crowd. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/59 "2017-01-05T17:20:12Z")
I’m not sure why I feel I have to defend Starbucks, but it’s just that I see so much complete and utter bullshit about them out there, from “$5 for a cup of coffee” to “they don’t understand what “large” means” to “you can’t order a plain coffee there” to “nobody actually drinks regular coffee there” that I feel the need to chime in, especially on this board. The burnt coffee stuff is subjective; the other stuff is not. It just annoys the crap out of me for some reason, even though 20 years ago they were on my shit list, too. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/60 "2017-01-05T17:22:02Z")
I like it. I get the dark roast and put in one splenda and a little cream. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357.md?page=4)